In the early twenties’ each counselor brought a white enamel pitcher of milk and a plate of graham crackers to the hut. “—for it was a long time between meals and we were hungry by then. This helped us to hold off starvation overnight,” said Harriet Crumb. Her friend Meg Dahlem remembered the hot […]
Kimela Peck
Primitive Camping
The precursor to primitive camping at Maqua may well have been in the early twenties’ when Meg Dahlem talked of their trips overnight by truck to the AuSable. They would sleep on the ground on a hill with no sleeping bags, but probably makeshift bedrolls. The appeal for outdoor camping of this sort waxed and […]
Eek! Snakes! Lizards!
The girls either learned to have an appreciation for snakes or they left camp still hating them. Maureen Moore (1968-70) learned to appreciate snakes during her trips to the nature hut, but, some girls played with them at camp and later developed a fear, like Karen Magidsohn (1965) or Barb Krohn (1970-72), who just avoided […]
Even The Walls Sing!
“We were always singing,” said Kimela Peck (1966-74), who said she could still see “Beanie” with her guitar by the fireplace and the girls in their “whites” swaying back and forth to “High On Chapel Hill”. “The lodge was filled with kids all summer long from Bay City, Saginaw, Flint and Detroit and everyone seemed […]
Reverse Homesickness–#2
One of the campers from the sixties loved getting away from her parents and was never homesick. “In fact, going to camp helped me feel like part of the group,” she said. (She had been friends with a girl named Kyle Higgs and their parents were also friends and they were at camp together). “When […]
Nurses, Doctors and Patients–#3
By1963, the salary for the nurse had increased to $450 for the summer and Lillian Richards R.N. accepted the position. She was forty-five and lived in Harrisville, just north of Hale. It was not always easy to find medical staff to reside at camp for an entire summer, but there was a need that had […]